Sunday, October 7, 2007

AN EVENING WITH JONATHAN PLUMMER

Many of you probably know by now that I host a talk show on Keeping It Real Online Tv which is owned by my friend and show Director Ron Fulcher. I just did the interview above at the Bates House in Oakland with Jonathan Plummer about a week ago and forgive me for reading the paper a lot. I usually know what I am going to ask for an interview but sometimes, I don't get to read the questions until just before the taping.

I started working with Jonathan a few weeks after the Oprah Winfrey show debocle with his ex-wife Terry McMillan. When I first met him, he was very naive and somewhat shell shocked from the experience of being under "attack" by Terry.

Jonathan is serious about setting the record straight about the accusations made by his ex-wife and his detractors.

However, I still have a hard time believing him when he says that he didn't think of men sexually as a teenager butthat is what he says and that is what he believes.

Jonathan met Terry when he was 20 years old. He experienced most of his adult years in the Terry Mc Millan bubble, and what a bubble it was. I think that over time,the cultural distance between Jonathan and his homeland Jamaica allowed him to experience a new world of sexual freedom. In the world of entertainment, he got to meet gay people who were very comfortable with their sexuality and saw that there was also a culture of gay tolerance in the entertainment industry. Jonathan's suppressed homosexual desires had a new "gay" friendly environment within which they could flourish.Recently, here in Oakland and San Francisco, black book store Marcus Books decided not to sale Jonathan's book (see BAR Article). You can read the article in the BAR to learn my feelings about that.

I have talked with Terry McMillan over the phone and communicated with her via email about Jonathan. Terry is clearly a brilliant and savvy business woman, however, she is also still in a lot of pain about Jonathan and I hope that she can move beyond him so that she can put her creative energy into being the outstanding author that she is.